Qi standard is key to wireless charging

Munich (dpa) – Wireless charging has the obvious advantage that there’s no need for any annoying fiddling with connectors, but you need to watch the labelling when purchasing, a German computer magazine, Chip, reports after a market survey.

Its conclusion: If you opt for inductive charging, only buy chargers or accessories that conform with the Qi charging standard.

With a wireless charger, you put your phone on the charger stand and the energy jumps through the air gap.

Powermat products that use the PMA standard don’t work with modern smartphones, is Chip’s verdict.

PMA chargers are sometimes offered for sale online in Europe, but the magazine says they’re not worth buying.

A mobile being charged wirelessly. COURTESY OF IQI MOBILE

Because of the different frequencies there are no compatible smartphones, so a bulky adaptor is required.

Users of induction chargers should also know that it takes much longer to get a full battery charge compared to plugging in a charging cable.

So far the power rating of Qi devices is limited to a maximum of five watts.

In practice, that leads to charging times around 60 per cent longer than with plug-in chargers.

Currently there are 11 smartphone models on the European market that support wireless charging natively.

These include Google’s Nexus models, some Lumias from Microsoft and the LG G3. Phone cases are available for 18 other phones which adapt them for wireless charging.

Original accessories aren’t essential – third party ones that use the Qi standard should also function reliably.